(Co)polymers of vinyl-functional monomers that are useful, for example, as adhesives, can be produced by bulk (i.e., solvent-free) free-radical (co)polymerization in a batch reactor under essentially adiabatic reaction conditions (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,986,011). Methods of producing hot melt adhesives in sealed reaction vessels are also known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,523 describes a method for producing hot melt adhesives in which a polymerizable monomer composition is introduced into a sealable reaction vessel and polymerized by ionizing radiation. The adhesive is then removed from the reaction vessel before hot melt application. The reaction vessel may be a lined cylindrical pressure vessel or multilayer bag.
Methods of making packaged (co)polymer compositions such as hot melt adhesives and the resulting packaged compositions are known. German Patent No. 36 25 358 describes a hot melt adhesive block in a thermoplastic film. The film is melted and mixed with the adhesive in an extrusion process. U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,491 describes a method of packaging a thermoplastic or thermosetting hot melt adhesive in which a portion of an adhesive composition is surrounded with a plastic packaging material. The plastic packaging material does not substantially adversely affect the adhesive characteristics of a molten mixture of the adhesive and the plastic packaging material. PCT International Pub. No. WO 93/23224 describes a method for packaging hot melt adhesive compositions in which molten hot melt adhesive is poured into a mold lined with a plastic film. The plastic film is meltable with the adhesive composition and blendable into the molten adhesive composition.